Helvetica Review at adam wagler

Saturday, December 15th, 2007

Helvetica Review

Yesterday a few of the AIGA students and I watched the new documentary, Helvetica. In my opinion, it was a great movie about typography that would be entertaining to even none designers. Visually the film is wonderful to watch. It gets into the pros and cons of the typeface, Helvetica, as well as other fonts and a brief history of typography in the last few decades. The short version is that Helvetica is around 50 years old and the debate is whether it is overused. The movie interviewed designs, creators, and historians who gave their take on typography and specifically Helvetica.

We talked a bit after the movie and had some good conversations, assuming your into design and have a nerdy interest in typefaces. Function vs. Ascetics, which is always a fun topic. Should it be readable or a piece of art. Some of the designers in the movie feel type should have no more meaning then the words themselves, while others feel you can use fonts to enhance your message. It’s great they talk about modernism through grunge backlash to get to where we are today. We discussed how people outside the design world like what is comfortable, which Helvetica fits this niche. So what to do as a designer when approached by a client who does not want to break down design barriers and only wants an appropriate look for their business?

For me, this is the challenge of being an effective designer is to know your audience. Finding the appropriate balance between form and function is the fun part. I have an assignment in one of the advertising classes I teach, communication graphics, where they are required to use the university branding guidelines. Most of the reactions are frustration and feelings of restriction when they don’t have free reign. To me this is a fun obstacle, but when given the opportunity to create, go all out. In short, the movie is fun and raises many interesting topics regarding typography and design.